1. Related Application
This Application claims the benefit, and priority benefit, of U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 61/914,705, filed Dec. 11, 2013, entitled “Alcohol Pad System, Alcohol Pad, and Method for Cleaning a Medicine Vial”.
2. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to the field of alcohol pads for use in cleaning medical apparatus, including medicine vials.
3. Description of the Related Art
Alcohol pads, or alcohol prep pads, are in widespread use today in hospitals, doctor's offices, and other medical care facilities. Such alcohol prep pads are typically made of an absorbent, non-woven pad material, saturated with 70% isopropyl alcohol. These alcohol prep pads are used as a topical antiseptic prior to giving a patient an injection, and are individually packaged. Each time an alcohol prep pad is needed, the individual package, or packet, is torn open to permit medical personnel to grasp an alcohol prep pad for use. The alcohol prep pad may be used to clean the patient's skin in the general location where the injection is to be made. Such alcohol prep pads may also be used to clean, or sanitize, the top of a medicine vial containing the medicine to be injected into a patient, or other medical apparatus such as IV ports.
Alcohol prep pads are used to prevent hospital associated infections (“HAIs”). According to the Centers for Disease Control, HAIs are infections that patients acquire during the course of receiving health care treatment for other conditions. Infections related to medical care can be devastating and even deadly. HAIs are an important public health problem, and it has been estimated that approximately one out of every 20 hospitalized patients will contract an HAI.
HAIs can be caused by not using aseptic techniques when preparing a medicine vial for use with a patient, as nurses may rub the top of the medicine vial with their bare finger while not wearing gloves, and bacteria on the nurse's finger may wick through to the top of the vial. When inserting a syringe into the medicine vial to obtain the necessary dosage of the medicine to be injected into the patient, such bacteria may be transferred to the needle of the syringe if the medicine vial has not been properly cleaned, and into the patient during the medicine injection, which can cause a HAI.